Posts tagged ‘CML’
EHA 2011 patient advocacy session missing two or three doses of CML therapy per month may have serious impact on outcome
June 16th, 2011
Daedalus
Have you ever failed to complete a course of antibiotics or missed the occasional dose of a cancer drug thinking it won’t kill you?
An interesting presentation by David Marin of the Hammersmith Hospital at the recent European Hematology Association (EHA) Congress in London highlighted how missing two or three doses per month of tyrosine kinase inhibitors for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) may have a dramatic effect on outcome.
Pieter Droppert on Biotech Strategy Blog has written more about the patient advocacy session at EHA 2011 where Dr Marin presented on CML adherence.
As Sally Church discusses on her EHA video blog, better patient and physician education is needed about adherence along with packaging of drugs that encourages compliance.
The take home is that even if you feel better, continuing to take a treatment may the right course of action in the long-term.
If you are interested in more information about CML adherence, then Jan Geissler, who chaired the EHA patient advocacy session, has posted more information on the CML Advocates Network website.
In case you missed the 16th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) that took place this past weekend in London, Sally Church has produced a video blog with her highlights from the meeting.
It’s tough doing ASCO and EHA back-to-back, but Sally is a seasoned road warrior. In the video we even see her working on the plane!
In her video blog, Sally talks about new data from the Congress in AML, systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL), and how pharma/biotech companies can do more with their drug packaging to help promote patient adherence to drug treatments.
Sally formerly worked at Novartis Oncology on imatinib (Gleevec®) in CML, so has expertise in this field. You can read more about EHA and hematology new products on Pharma Strategy Blog.
Sally Church’s interview with Dr Charles Sawyers rated a “must read” by Forbes Health
May 5th, 2011
Daedalus
Sally Church invests a lot of her personal time in writing for Pharma Strategy Blog. With a focus on the science of new products and treatments in cancer and hematology, Sally willingly shares her passion, knowledge and expertise.
It is always a pleasure to receive endorsement from others. Matthew Herper from Forbes Health kindly highlighted Sally’s interview with Dr Charles Sawyers as a “must read.”
We agree. Dr Sawyers is one of the leading translational scientists in the United States who along with Dr Brian Druker and Dr Nick Lydon received the prestigious Lasker award for their work on imatinib (Gleevec/Glivec) in CML. Dr Sawyers is now working on prostate cancer, and in his interview with Sally, describes his latest work developing MDV3100 and ARN-509.
We unequivocally recommend reading Sally’s post on Pharma Strategy Blog, “Making a difference to the lives of cancer patients: An interview with Dr Charles Sawyers.”
A venture capital firm in Boston yesterday bet $40M in first round financing that Dr Druker and his partners can repeat the success of Gleevec/Glivec with a new Boston/Cambridge life sciences start-up company, Blueprint Medicines.
If Daedalus had money to invest, a wager on Dr Druker would be as good as any in the biotechnology industry. After the successful development of Gleevec/Glivec, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that Drs Druker & Lydon were instrumental in developing with Novartis for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), it’s hard not to believe that they cannot do it again.
Icarus Consultants’ Sally Church worked closely with Dr Druker while at Novartis Oncology. Starting in oncology new products she saw the potential of STI-571, and subsequently took the product to market in the U.S. market as Gleevec. We wish him well, and should Blueprint Medicines need any commercial, marketing strategy consulting services, we hope he’ll call us 
.
You can read more on Biotech Strategy Blog.
It is a sad day for Japan and its people. Any natural disaster does provide graphic testimony of the fragility of life and the lack of predictability of what may happen to any of us.
Today, Icarus Consultant’s hematology expert, Dr Sally Church in a poignant post on Pharma Strategy Blog provides some perspective on what is happening in Japan and whether we will see an increase in leukemia as a result.
She discusses the higher incidence of leukemia and lymphoma that has been seen in children living around the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Cumbria, in the North West of England.
Only long-term epidemiology studies will show the true consequences of any radiation exposure, so it may be many years before we can measure the true impact of what has happened in Japan.
Published by Pieter Droppert on Biotech Strategy Blog